10-11 Double winners (UCL AND La liga champions) Barcelona have a grudge match with the best club side in the history of football (in terms of trophies won) and 10-11 Copa Del Rey winners Real Madrid on Sunday, August 14th 2011 at the El Santiago de Bernabeu (home of the Los Merengues). The second leg takes place at the Nou camp (Barcelona's slaughter house). three days after (Wednesday, 17th August.
It is the Spanish version of the the F.A community shield, but the only difference is that it is a two-legged tie. This only happens in Spain to the best of my knowledge.
Th El Grande Classico is the acronym for the duel between the two Spanish power houses and it is the most watched and most followed match in the whole world, although the SUPER CLASSICO (Boca Juniors v River Plate) is close to it because of the spectators it garners. There are other rivalries like the Milan Derby, the Manchester derby etc, but the Spanish Classico tops the bill for me.
Tomorrow's match brings together Jose Mario Felix Mourinho and Pep Guardiola for the 5th time in Classico affairs with The Blaugrana (nickname for Barcelona) coach just edging it with 2 wins to Jose's 1. The rest have been score draws.But if you put all their career meetings into perspective, Pep still leads Jose with 4 wins to 2, with the other 3 being draws. The additional 4 matches come from their duels when Mourinho was the manager of Inter.
Florentino Perez, Real's CEO brought the 'Special one' from Inter to try and stop Barcelona's dominance both domestically and in Europe. So far it has not been an easy task if you take last season into consideration. Guardiola won his 9th and 10th trophies with the Catalans and made it even worse by trashing the whites 5-0 at home in the league and also destroying Mourinho's wards 2-0 in their own backyard in the UCL semis. Both wins inspired by the World's finest footballer, Lionel Andrea Messi aka 'el pulga'. Mourinho took his pound of flesh in the domestic cup final at the MESTALLA when a Cristiano Ronaldo extra time thumping header gave Real their first trophy since 2008. But that was not the major aim when the season began... To show that the trophy wasn't really important to the Casillas skippered team, Sergio Ramos dropped it during the trophy parade, albeit unintentionally.
The matches last season had a lot of controversies, especially the two legged semi final in the champions league where tempers rose and many friends became enemies.Pique, Alonso and Ramos apparently unfollowed each other on twitter. Yes it got to that extent. Mourinho accused a lot of bodies like UEFA and the UNICEF for aiding Barcelona and also blamed the ouster of his team on a lot of irregularities sterning from many many things which he pointed out. He even went as far as questioning the coaching credentials of his counterpart, Guardiola, pointing out the semi final 2nd leg in 09 against Chelsea where it was widely agreed that the West Londers were robbed of a place in the final by Norwegian ref, Tom Henning Ovrebo.
The portugese coach was heavily criticized for his outburst by a lot of great players including the outspoken former honorary President of Barcelona and current Ajax top executive, Johan Cruyff. He was also fined by UEFA and suspended for 5 European games - A disciplinary action that has since been reduced as a result of Real's appeal .
Tomorrow is the beginning of another chapter in the very exciting tale of two power houses going head to head for the first official trophy of the season. The game football is popular because of games like this which pitches the very best teams in the world against each other. It is not every week you get you get to watch Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Dani alves, Xavi, Iniesta, Cassilas, Sergio Ramos,Kaka, Puyol and co in one pitch lurking horns.
Both teams have added fresh legs and new faces to their respective armies. Real purchased the likes of Nuri Sahin, who in the absence of Japanese midfield gem, Shinji Kagawa, propelled Jorgen Klopp's BVB to the Bundesliga title.Hamit Altintop also joined from Bavaria, Jose Callejon also returned to the capital from Espanyol in a deal believed to be worth 6 million euros,Rafael Varane arrived from Lens, Fabio Coentrao from Eusebio's Benfica, also joined forces with Jose and his men. Jose luis Samartin Mato (JOSELU) who impressed Mourinho at the tail end of last season has also been promoted tot he first team.
Barcelona on the other hand didn't change much. The big story though is the imminent arrival of former academy player and Arsenal Captain, Cesc Fabregas. The Chilean speedometer, Alexis Sanchez joined from Udinese. One player Barca have in their ranks that is destined for great things is THIAGO ALCANTARA Do NASCIMENTO- the son of fromer world cup winner, Mazinho (Lomar do Nscimento). Thiago was far and away the best player of the all all conquering Spanish U-21 team in the UEFA tournament in Denamrk. His game clincher against Swithzerland was top draw. It was that tournament, especially the final, that he announced himself to the World. His stock rose during pre-season especially in the AUDI CUP hosted by FC HOLLYWOOD (Bayern Munich). In the absence of Xavi Hernandez, he sparkled like a million stars, scoring super goals against Internacional of Brazil and Bayern Munich as Barcelona won the tournament easily. He also scored a fantastic goal in the UCL final rematch between Barca and Man united in the United States ad was imperious in the last match against Club America.
Real Madrid can boast of players like Ronaldo,in my view the most complete footballer in the World, the returning Kaka, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and football's best goal tender IMO, Iker Cassilas. But Barcelona also have the World's best player in Messi, the best two midfileders in Xavi and Iniesta and easily the best defender in La liga, Gerard Pique. Whichever way you see it, whoever you support, the game promises to be exciting and filled with tension and animousity.
Jose and Pep will field the best teams at their disposal and tomorrow we shall know who draws first blood going into the 2nd leg on Wednesday.
That will be all.
Feedback is welcome
Thanks
Ohireime Eboreime
follow me on twitter @ohiskaka1990
